After all the ASU football team has been through this season, it seems hard to believe that it has yet to play its most important game of the season.
Yes, this is the Territorial Cup and there is always extra motivation to beat UA, no matter the preceding results. But the fact is that each game for the Sun Devils has become the most important of the season.
After too many demoralizing losses and endless should-haves, each game has carried more weight than the last. And now, with just a thread of hope left to earn a bowl berth, ASU faces its last chance in the most heated atmosphere possible.
Playing to avoid a third-straight losing season and earn consideration for an NCAA waiver and bowl invite, the Sun Devils need a win in Tucson.
Though playing in a city where the only redeeming quality is drinks at a sandwich joint would make anyone feel like a winner, the Sun Devils have to be winners Thursday night. There is no almost. There is no could-have.
ASU has a chance to salvage a season many gave up on long ago. In a season like this, it’s incredible this team even has that chance.
Additionally, the Sun Devils can right the ship after a muffed punt essentially cost them last year’s game in Tempe.
In the past few seasons, the athletic powers have shifted. ASU has been dominant on the hardwood and UA has owned the gridiron.
It might sound selfish, but we want both.
As of late, the Wildcats’ defense has been worse than former UA quarterback Willie Tuitama’s post-DUI career (Buffalo Wild Wings, anyone?). Defensive shortfalls have turned BCS hopes from a 7-1 start into a three-game losing streak and this is ASU’s chance to strike.
If new starting quarterback Brock Osweiler can torch the UA defense like he did UCLA’s last week, the Territorial Cup could be on its way back to Tempe (that is, if the Wildcats didn’t leave it at a bus stop outside a Walmart).
The importance of this game, though, isn’t just about making it to a bowl game or brutalizing the Wildcats. Even with a win, ASU’s season may be over, and after falling just short of beating three teams currently ranked in the nation’s top five, a win against UA would be a sweet finish to what’s been a sour season.
A win wouldn’t make up for what could have been with the 2010 Sun Devils, but it would be a ray of hope for next season. And honestly, bragging rights would be nice, too.
Regardless of the winner, the game should be a display of solid Pac-10 football. The teams are evenly matched and the elevated emotion of the rivalry makes anything possible.
For all their failings this season, the Sun Devils owe it to their fans to give every bit of what they’ve got Thursday night. If all things go right, the Sun Devils will be walking off the field with a win … hopefully in front of overzealous UA fans who rushed it in the third quarter.
